Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) sent the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) on Monday (Aug 31) a Federal Police report containing messages in which Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master and an arrestee in the Compliance Zero operation, asks an unnamed interlocutor to have "Andrei and Paulo" act in his favor. The Federal Police believes the references point to Andrei Rodrigues, the force's director general, and Paulo Gonet, the prosecutor general who heads the PGR. Mendonça, who oversees the court's investigation into fraud at Banco Master, gave the office five days to respond.

The document became public on Tuesday (Sept 1). The news site Metrópoles reported it first. Folha de S.Paulo and TV Globo confirmed its contents.

What the message says

Officers found the note on one of Vorcaro's phones in late October last year, according to G1. In it, Vorcaro described the bank's situation and the problems he faced. He wrote that Central Bank officials had given him confidential information that "G", whom the report links to bank president Gabriel Galípolo, and the other directors were under strong pressure to move against Master because of intense pressure from the Federal Police and federal prosecutors.

"Daniel Vorcaro also stated that it was important for the interlocutor to reinforce, with Andrei (probably Andrei Augusto Rodrigues, Director General of the Federal Police) and Paulo (probably Paulo Gonet Branco, Prosecutor General of the Republic), the need to stop subordinates within the hierarchies of the Federal Police and the prosecutors' office from pulling 'alguma sacanagem', a Portuguese phrase for a dirty trick, because, in his words, 'aí vai tudo pro saco', it would all go down the drain," the report says, in a passage quoted by G1 and translated from Portuguese.

Who received the message

The recipient has not been identified. Vorcaro had a habit of saving notes, taking screenshots and sending them as view-once images, which makes the exchanges hard to trace. Federal Police investigators do not rule out that the message was a request for protection addressed to Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the STF.

The offices of Rodrigues, Gonet and Moraes had not replied to requests for comment by publication time. Folha said it contacted all three at 9:40 a.m. on Tuesday. The PGR also did not return G1's requests.

Next comes the PGR's answer: the office has five days, counted from Monday's dispatch, to comment on the Federal Police report.